Steady steering: Elon wins with coach in the hospital

By Adam Smith / Times-News

Published: Sunday, September 16, 2012 at 05:53 PM.

Pinkham came down to the field from his customary perch in the coaching box and served as acting head coach. On the sideline, wearing headphones and sunglasses, he said he thought of Swepson often Saturday.

“A lot. A lot,” Pinkham said. “I was trying to think of what would Jason do, ‘WWJD.’

“He has a poise. He has a calmness with the kids. I would have to fight myself sometimes, because I’ll get a little bit loud.”

Swepson, a 42-year-old married father of three, in his second season at Elon, experienced chest pains in the predawn hours of Friday morning and was taken to a Raleigh hospital, where he remained Saturday for testing.

Elon athletics director Dave Blank picked up a call from Swepson before 6 a.m. Friday. A few hours later, Blank delivered the stunning developments to Pinkham and Pincince and the rest of Elon’s coaching staff.

Then, in the afternoon, it was time to reveal the news to the Phoenix players.

ELON — From a tactical standpoint, Saturday’s game followed a businesslike model for the Elon University football team.

Offensive coordinator Chris Pincince and defensive coordinator Ed Pinkham called the plays for their respective units, as per usual.

And the Phoenix took care of Division II opponent West Virginia State in orderly fashion, rolling up a 48-14 rout at Rhodes Stadium.

But emotionally, with Elon coach Jason Swepson hospitalized for a second day, this became a departure from the norm.

“It was a lot different,” linebacker Jonathan Spain said. “Pre-game, (Friday) night, (Saturday) morning, different people were talking to us instead of Coach Swepson. You heard different voices.”

The visuals proved striking for receiver Aaron Mellette.

“It was weird not seeing him at the pre-game meal and not seeing him right before the game for the pre-game speech,” Mellette said of the absent Swepson, “or walking around when we’re out there stretching, when he comes and shakes my hand and says things to me.”

Pinkham came down to the field from his customary perch in the coaching box and served as acting head coach. On the sideline, wearing headphones and sunglasses, he said he thought of Swepson often Saturday.

“A lot. A lot,” Pinkham said. “I was trying to think of what would Jason do, ‘WWJD.’

“He has a poise. He has a calmness with the kids. I would have to fight myself sometimes, because I’ll get a little bit loud.”

Swepson, a 42-year-old married father of three, in his second season at Elon, experienced chest pains in the predawn hours of Friday morning and was taken to a Raleigh hospital, where he remained Saturday for testing.

Elon athletics director Dave Blank picked up a call from Swepson before 6 a.m. Friday. A few hours later, Blank delivered the stunning developments to Pinkham and Pincince and the rest of Elon’s coaching staff.

Then, in the afternoon, it was time to reveal the news to the Phoenix players.

Some reacted with silence. Others’ mouths fell agape.

“It was, ‘Whoa,’ ” Pinkham said.

“Guys were shocked,” Mellette said. “Didn’t anybody know about it. Everybody was just acting like we usually do, waiting for him to walk in. And then you see Coach Blank. The first thing I’m thinking, ‘Who’s in trouble?’

And after the news started to settle in?

“Then I was thinking he’s got that Urban Meyer thing going on,” Mellette said, referencing the Ohio State coach — like Swepson, seemingly healthy for his age — who has dealt with health problems.

Pinkham’s pre-game address centered on mental toughness, always one of his pet talking points, and Spain said Elon (2-1) took extra pride in delivering against West Virginia State (1-2).

“We just went out there and did it for Swep,” Spain said. “We were worried about him and everything. So we kind of played this game for him and made sure that we got a ‘W.’ ”

Thomas Wilson threw four touchdown passes in the first half, Mellette (nine catches, 129 yards, two touchdowns before halftime) broke out from a slow start to the season and the Phoenix met little resistance in its final non-league game before entering Southern Conference play.

Elon got on the scoreboard when Rasaun Rorie shed West Virginia State’s Jabril Pearsons with a stiff arm to reach the end zone on a 17-yard pass play.

After Karl Bostick burst 43 yards for a score and Mellette elevated above the Yellow Jackets’ Romell Haley for a grab in the corner of the end zone, Wilson hit tight end Chris Harris from 17 yards out for a 28-0 Elon lead midway through the second quarter.

The Phoenix, up 35-0, appeared headed for a fairly spotless for first half until West Virginia State’s LeFloyd Phillips ripped off a 70-yard touchdown run with 41.2 seconds left in the second quarter.

The second half was a formality. Elon led 48-7 in the fourth quarter on backup quarterback Mike Quinn’s 3-yard scoring pass to Ricky Brown and finished with 571 yards of total offense, including 301 rushing yards.

“We executed on offense really well. I was very pleased with that,” Wilson said. “We had a wide-variety game plan, a wide variety of different plays and formations and personnel groupings and schemes, and we executed on just about everything.”

-- EXTRA POINTS …: Elon piled up its most rushing yards since November 2002. Freshman Thuc Phan, a walk-on generously listed at 5-foot-6, ran for 110 yards in the second half. … Mellette became the third player in Elon history with 3,000 career receiving yards. … Wilson tied a career best with four touchdown passes and threw for 261 yards to become the fourth Elon quarterback with 4,000 career passing yards. … Harris, a senior, scored the first touchdown of his career on the second catch of his career. … Pinkham downplayed his role as acting head coach. “We kind of were a three-headed group,” he said, referring to Elon’s coordinators. “So I really didn’t have all that much pressure on me.” … And apparently Pinkham also undersold his pre-game message. “I don’t know if he knew he gave a great pre-game speech, but he did give a great pre-game speech,” Spain said. “He talked about mental toughness for a little bit, but he got hyped.”